A team of BASF (Ludwigshafen / Germany; www.basf.com), Novozymes (Bagsvaerd / Denmark; www.novozymes.com) and Cargill (Minneapolis, Minnesota / USA; www.cargill.com) collaborating on finding a route to produce acrylic acid sourced from renewable raw materials such as corn-derived dextrose – see Plasteurope.com of 21.08.2012 – has announced a new milestone.

Specifically, the aim of the partnership building on a cooperation between enzyme producer Novozymes and agriculture specialist Cargill in place since 2008 is to develop microorganisms that can convert renewable feedstock into the acrylic acid precursor 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP. After demonstrating the production of 3-HP at pilot scale a year ago, the companies said they have now successfully converted the product to glacial acrylic acid and superabsorbent polymers and have selected this process for further scale-up.

Together with the pilot plant for 3-HP operated by Cargill and supported by Novozymes, BASF – which claims to be world's largest producer of acrylic acid through oxidation of propylene – said the R&D milestone will help fast-forward its entry into the market for bio-based superabsorbent polymers used to make baby diapers, adhesive raw materials and coatings.

Teressa Szelest, senior vice president of the Global Hygiene Business at the Ludwigshafen chemical giant, said BASF is "working full force” to set up a small integrated pilot plant by the end of 2014.